We don’t easily get shocked on our weekly demos, we hear so many terrible stories, but one recent event was a day that I won’t forget for a while.

We were stood in our usual spot and I got called over by a member of our group. “Hiya, this man would like to speak to you. He wants to be heard.”

I walked over and spoke to this lovely man. He was sat in his mobility scooter and shook my hand. He said: “My friend committed suicide just before Christmas.

“He hung himself at the top of his stairs. He had been sanctioned but he had mental-health problems. He was that scared that he was going to lose his house and he killed himself.

“He couldn’t see any other way out. I miss him every day, life without him isn’t the same.

“Since when was this government allowed to hurt people like this? It’s wrong, so wrong.

“They’ve put me on the work programme and I’ve got to go to Manchester for an interview for a workfare job. How am I going to afford to do that? I won’t eat just so I can go, I’m too scared that I will be sanctioned to do otherwise.

“I already volunteer but it’s not good enough they say. They won’t let me breathe, I want to work but I am limited in what I can do.”

“To most people this is shocking, it’s wrong. To the government this is okay, this is right.

“How can it be right?”

His wasn’t the only story told. An 81-year-old man talked about having his pension credit stopped. He couldn’t understand why so he went into the jobcentre. They told him well “we won’t help you, write them a letter.” So we helped him.

Another man was refused his travel allowance for a workfare interview that he was forced to attend in Manchester. The jobcentre is legally obliged to offer the allowance, but refused anyway. Luckily he has a job interview on Tuesday, a job that he found himself. We really hope that he gets this job.

Another man collared me and said: “Can you come out of the way of the jobcentre and talk to me?”

He was scared and didn’t want the staff there to see him talking to protesters. He wasn’t a young man, in fact he looked like a tough man, but he was terrified. He said “I can’t hang around, I’ve got to get away from here. I’m scared. He said they won’t leave me alone.”

I gave him my telephone number and he said that he would phone me, that it’s safest that way. He hasn’t phoned yet and I hope that he’s okay. I’ve been worried about him all night.

How can it be right that people are scared like this? People are terrified, you can see it in their eyes, the way that their heads drop and they stare at the ground when they walk. They just want to disappear away from the world, desperate to hold onto what little they still might have.

It’s got to stop.

Please join us in supporting our demonstrations. Start your own protests in your local area and don’t be scared. Don’t let them grind you down.

And to the jobcentre staff reading this — we come in peace. We want you to stand together and say this isn’t right. People are dying as a result of your actions, which are being dictated to by this government. Call upon your union for support and take action. Come and join us.

One death is a death too many.